Process of manufacturing articles covered with celluloid or like material.



N0. 635,9l7. Patented Oct. 3|, I399.

C. F. CHURCH. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES COVERED WITH CEL'LULOID 0R LIKE MATERIAL.

(Application filed Oct. 4, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets8heet l.

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N0. 635,9!7. Pafente'd Oct. 31, I899. C. F. CHURCH. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES coyznzn WITH CELLULOID on LIKE MATERIAL.

(Application filed Oct. 4, 1897.)

(H6 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2-,

PATENT oHA LEs F. CHURCH, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLES COVERED WITH CELLULOID 0R LIKE MATERIAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,917, dated October 31, 1899.

Application filed October 4,1897. Serial No. 653,997. (Nospacimena) To a whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OHARLEs F. CHURCH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Process of Manufacturing Articles Covered with Celluloid or Like Material, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the art of covering articles of Wood or other solid substances with a layer of celluloid or like material which is capable of being made flexible and also in a measure plastic, so that it may be shaped about and united to an irregular surface; and the object of my invention is to provide a process by means of which such alayer or film may be intimately and securely united to the surface of the article in a durable and commercially successful manner.

To this end my invention consists mainly in the use, in the process of securing the layer or film of celluloid or like material to the surface of the article while under heat and pressure, of a protective shield having a slit through the wall thereof; and it also consists in other steps in the process, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tank in which the articles may be heated. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of one form of inclosing air-tight bag used in the process. Fig. 3 is a view of another form of shield partible along one side where abutting edges are provided toform a close joint. Fig. i is a detail view of a roll of elastic tape used in the process. Fig. 5 is a diagram sectional view through the pressure-chamber, showing connected tanks and piping. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a mud-guard, such as is used on a bicycle, overlying the wheel thereof. Fig. 7 is a detail view, on enlarged scale, showing the manner of holding the layer of celluloid while it is being molded and formed to shape in the heating-bath. Fig. 8 is a detail view, on enlarged scale, showing the manner of inclosing the guard and the formed film-blank placed thereon within the inner protecting-shield. Fig. 9 is a view, on enlarged scale, in section through the air-tight bag and'across the mudguard, showing the relative position of the several parts.

In the practice of this improvement the best results are obtained by the use of water as the liquid agentand Vehicle for storing and transmission of heat and pressure and of steam astheimmediateheatingmedium. My invention is herein described, therefore, in connection with an apparatus in which such agencies are employed, and it is illustrated as applied to the production of a mud-guard for a velocipede or bicycle wheel, although other agencies maybe employed as vehicles for heat and pressure, and a large variety of articles may be treated and produced without departing from the invention, which is not limited to all the specific mediums employed nor to the shape, form, or prospective use of the article produced.

The apparatus preferably employed for practicing the process is illustrated in one of its forms in Figs. 1 to 5 of the drawings. The shallow tank a is adapted to hold water and serve as a bath in which the articles may be submerged. It has a series of steam-pipes I), located and arranged to conveniently heat the water to the desired degree of temperature and provided with suitable valves to control the flow of steam.

An air-tight bag 0, preferably of india-rubber, has a valve 61 as a means of controlling the inflation and deflation of the bag, and a pipe connection to a vacuum-pump enables the air to be exhausted from the bag. This bag is of any desired shape and size to suitably inclose the article to be covered or protected by the layer of celluloid or like material.

The mud-guard 6, selected to illustrate the practice of the invention, is of curved outline both lengthwise and crosswise, and to cover such an article with the layer or film of celluloid or like material on the outer face and edges a strip of the covering material is cut to proper length and Width. This strip or blank f is placed against and fitted upon the guard and strapped to it by means of the tape 9, which is of elastic material and preferably of india-rubber. This elastic tape is wound about the article, as illustrated in Fig. 7, and with sufficient tension to bind the blank firmly upon the article. The article thus ICO bound is placed in the bag 0 and the air exhausted and in this condition placed in the tank a and subjected to a high degree of heat of about 200 Fahrenheit, where it remains for a short time. It is then cooled, preferably by plunging it into cold water while in the bag, and the air is then admitted to the bag and the article removed. The elastic strip 9 is then unwound, and the blank of celluloid or like material will be found shaped to the contour of the article. It may then be removed and a number of such blanks made for future use, or the guard (or other article being covered) is treated with a coating of cement, (or the cement may be applied to the inner face of the film when cement is used, but that is not always necessary.) The blank is then placed upon the article, as the guard, and over this is placed a shield 7L, preferably of india-rubber or like flexible and elastic material. This shield may be made with a slit so arranged that the edges will abut and form a very narrow seam. Such a shield is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings and also in Fig. 8, where it is applied to the mud-guard. This mud-guard c, with the blank f, of celluloid or like material, closely formed upon it and with the inner shield h wrapped about it, is put into a bag t' and the air exhausted. The pull-up of the bag is located on opposite sides, as shown on the drawings, and sometimes a surplus width exists along another portion of the article; but all parts of the article are wrapped about and inclosed within the bag, which is air-tight, and with the air exhausted therefrom is subject to an exterior pressure depending upon the degree of vacuum within the bag. The bag with the inclosed article is then put within the retort It, where it is subjected to heat and pressure in an inclosing fluid, as water. The retort may be of any desired shape and size and has a suitable cover and means for clamping the cover, so as to hold liquid under pressure.

In Fig. 5 of the drawings there is shown a View in vertical section through the retort and tanks and a diagram view of the connected piping. By means of the pump Z the retort 7; is filled with water, the valve Z then closed, and steam admitted through the pipe on into the coils m in the retort, and by this means the water in the retort is brought to the desired temperature, usually from 200 to 212 Fahrenheit. By a continued operation of the pump pressure may be exerted upon the article, and this varies from seventy-five to onehundred and twenty pounds persquare inch, depending upon the article to be covered. After treatment for the required length of time, depending upon the size and character of the article, the hot water is displaced from the retort by cold water pumped into the retort to cool the article, or the article maybe removed from the retort while heated and cooled in a separate receptacle. The

mud-guard or other article is then removed from the bag, the shield removed from it, and

the layer of celluloid willbe found to be firmly and intimately united with the surface, so that it will not split or splinter off. It forms a secure protection against the weather and provides a surface that is easily kept in good condition and one which may be of any desired color or mixture of colors. The protecting film or layer of celluloid or like material may be transparent, if desired, and thus leave exposed the natural color of the article on which it is secured.

The shield It performs an important office in this process, as without it any crease, seam, or irregularity in the bag would be transferred to the film and show as an imperfection which would have to be removed, as by sandpapering and polishing. By the use of the shield all such imperfections are wholly avoided and an important gain is made in the commercial value of the article produced by the apparatus and process.

As already stated, the invention is not limited to the production of the article which for convenience alone is selected as the one in connection with which the invention is illustrated, but is equally appplicable to a wide range and large variety of articles, and my invention contemplates the application of the process in the production of articles of wood metal,and other m aterial covered wholly or in part with a layer of celluloid orlike material, a characteristic of the material being that it is easily bent and becomes in a measure plastic by the application of heat and is readily molded to the desired shape by pressure when so heated.

I claim as my invention 1. That improvement in the art or process of providing an article of wood or the like with a layer of celluloid or like material socurely and intimately united to the article, which consists in inclosin g the celluloid-covered article within a flexible elastic and slitted shield and subjecting the whole to fluid heat and pressure while contained in a vacuum, and subsequently cooling the article, all substantially as described.

2. The improved process of covering with a thin film of celluloid orlike material the irregular surface of an article which consists in first providing a blank film of the size and outline of the surface when developed and providing for a lap at the seam, then forming the blank to shape by the application of heat and pressure while contained in a vacuum, then setting the blank by cooling; then wrapping the formed blank about the article and inclosing the same in a shield of flexible and elastic material, then subjecting the whole to fluid heat and pressure while contained in a vacuum and subsequently cooling the article, all substantially as described.

CHARLES F. CHURCH.

lVitnesses:

FELTON PARKER, HERMANN F. OURTZ. 

